Green Homes

Recent Features

I was hired to design and build a home for a Vermont land owner who wanted a house that would be affordable to build, affordable to live in, as green as possible, accessible as she aged, and able to generate rental income.

We collaborated on the design, planning, permitting, and site work. We created a floor plan that would place all necessary living spaces on the first floor. The second floor has a great room, two additional bedrooms, and a second full bath so that she could rent space to boarders.

Our house is located outside of Carbondale, Colo., at an altitude of 7,000 feet. The architecture is both responsive to the climate — a dry mountain environment — and reflective of the local mountain style. I’m an architect, and I designed the house to be as energy efficient and environmentally friendly as possible within a reasonable budget. Of course, my wife and I, both self-employed professionals, also wanted a wonderful space to live and work in. The use of natural materials has made it a warm, cozy and comfortable home.

Acting as general contractors, my wife Cathy (a nurse practitioner) and I (a jazz musician) succeeded in building a Five-Star+ Energy StarLabeling system sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy for labeling the most energy-efficient products on the market; applies to a wide range of products, from computers and office equipment to refrigerators and air conditioners. home for less than $125 a square foot. If we could do it, so can you.

In the cold climate of coastal Maine, effective air sealing is critical to maximizing energy efficiency. The architect for the project, Bruce Coldham, said, “We have tried many approaches to air sealing over the past twenty years, but we hit the jackpot with these buildings. The results were spectacular. We achieved a remarkable final airtightness of 0.79 ACH50 consistent over three similar buildings. Without the comprehensive air-sealing design and implementation, the buildings would have been seven-plus times leakier.”